Alberta, Canada has the world’s third largest oil reserves within the form of oil sands. Extracting and processing the oil from the sands and bedrock is a challenging course of and requires the biggest slurry pump in the oil sands industry.
When it involves pumping slurry, there can be only a few applications that are more difficult than the hydro-transport of industrial quality slurries in oil sands manufacturing. Not solely do the pumps need to cope with the highly aggressive nature of the fluid being pumped, they are also anticipated to operate in a number of the harshest environments on the earth.
In January 2020, GIW Industries, Inc., a KSB firm, commissioned its largest ever heavy-duty centrifugal slurry pump for operation in Canada’s oil sands, particularly the Tie Bolt Construction (TBC-92). Named after its ninety two in (2337 mm) impeller, the TBC-92 is the most important and heaviest slurry pump obtainable within the oil sands business and the latest in a line of powerful high-pressure pumps provided by GIW.
Slurry transportation Slurry transport covers a considerable vary of industry sectors, starting from food and beverage to mining. What is common to all, is that the pumps used must have the ability to transport liquids containing particles and solids of varying sizes and viscosities. In mining, dredging and oil sands production, the biggest problem is to accommodate excessive density slurry and highly abrasive grits.
It is essential that the slurry passes via the pump with the minimum amount of wear to the pump casing, impeller, shaft and sealing mechanism. Furthermore, the pump should be capable of delivering high flows and capable of face up to harsh operating environments.
pressure gauge วัด แรง ดัน น้ำ in Canada has intensive oil reserves and these are in the type of oil sands. Extracting and processing the oil from the sands and bedrock is difficult, involving the removal of bituminous ore which is transported to a crushing plant. The crushed ore is then mixed with warm water to kind a dense slurry that can be transported in the pipeline in the path of extraction, where the bitumen is separated from the sand and rock. After extraction, the remaining solids (or tailings) are sometimes transported through completely different pumps to settling ponds.
The processes require in depth use of slurry and water transportation pumps capable of handling vast quantities of liquids at excessive pressures and excessive temp- eratures. Drawing on its lengthy experience of designing slurry pumps for mining, GIW has custom-engineered slurry pumps that combine superior materials, hydraulics and patented mechanical designs, the latest of which is the TBC-92.
Meeting challenges Mollie Timmerman, GIW business improvement manager, explains extra: “Our shopper needed the next capacity pump which was able to 10,000–11,000 m3 per hour of output at nearly forty m of developed head and a most working pressure of 4000 kPa. The pump additionally needed to have the power to pass rocks of roughly a hundred thirty mm in diameter with a complete passage dimension requirement of 10 in (or 254 mm) and handle slurry densities in excess of 1.5 SG.
In addition, the shopper was concentrating on a upkeep interval (operational time between deliberate maintenance) of round 3,000 hours. They had expressed an interest in maximising the upkeep intervals and based mostly on preliminary put on indications, they’re presently hoping to attain round 6,000 hours between pump overhauls (i.e. 6–8 months).”
The instant software for the first batch of GIW’s TBC-92 pumps in Alberta is in hydro-transport service where they are used to move bitu- minous ore from the crusher to the extraction plant. The liquid pumped is a mixture of water, bitumen, sand, and large rocks. Screens are in place to keep these rocks to a manageable dimension for the method, but the high dimension can nonetheless often reach up to one hundred thirty mm in diameter or bigger.
The abrasive nature of the slurry is what separates a slurry pump from other pumps used in the trade. Wear and erosion are details of life, and GIW has decades of experience in the design of slurry pumps and the development of supplies to assist prolong the service life of those important elements to match the planned upkeep cycles within the plant.
“GIW already had a pump capable of the output requirement, this being the MDX-750, which has been a popular measurement in mill duties for nearly 10 years through- out Central and South America,” explains Mollie Timmerman. ”However, the customer’s software required a pump with greater strain capabilities and the aptitude of dealing with bigger rocks so we responded with the event of the TBC-92 which offered one of the best solution for maximised production.”
The TBC collection The construction style of GIW’s TBC pump vary features giant, ribbed plates held together with tie bolts for very high-pressure service and most wear efficiency. First developed for dredge service, then later introduced into the oil sands in the Nineteen Nineties, the TBC pump collection has grown into a totally developed range of pumps serving the oil sands, phosphate, dredging and exhausting rock mining industries for tailings and hydrotransport applications.
เพรสเชอร์เกจวัดแรงดันน้ำ are often grouped collectively in booster stations to construct strain as high as 750 psi (5171 kPa) to account for the pipe losses encountered over such long distances. The sturdy development of the TBC pump is nicely suited to do the job, whereas ensuring most availability of the equipment under closely abrasive put on.
Capable of delivering stress as a lot as 37 bar and flows of greater than 18,200m³/h and temperatures as a lot as 120o C, the TBC range is a horizontal, end suction centrifugal pump that provides most resistance to put on. Simple to keep up, the pump’s tie-bolt design transfers stress loads away from the wear resistant white iron casing to the non- bearing aspect plates with out the use of heavy and unwieldy double-wall construction.
The TBC-92 combines the most effective components of earlier TBC fashions, together with the TBC-84 oil sands tailing pump, also referred to as the Super Pump. The pump also incorporates features from GIW’s MDX product line, which is used in heavy-duty mining circuits throughout the world of exhausting rock mining.
In total, the TBC-92 weighs about 209,000 lbs (95,000 kg), which is roughly equal to a fully-loaded Airbus A321 aeroplane. The casing alone weighs 34,000 lbs (15,500 kg). Key features of the pump include a slurry diverter that dramatically increases suction liner life by lowering particle recirculation between the impeller and the liner. The massive diameter impeller allows the pump to run at slower speeds in order that wear life is enhanced. The decrease pace also provides the pump the flexibility to function over a wider vary of flows in order to accommodate fluctuating circulate conditions.
To make maintenance simpler, the pump is fitted with a special two-piece suction plate design which helps to reduce back device time and provide safer lifting. Customers receive pump-specific lifting units to facilitate the protected removing and set up of put on and tear comp- onents. The pump also includes a longlasting suction liner that might be adjusted while not having to close the pump down.
New milestone The commissioning of the TBC-92 marks an important milestone for GIW, which now has pumps in service in any respect operating Canadian oil sands crops for hydrotransport purposes. The TBC-92 has been designed to deal with heavy-duty slurry transport while providing a low total value of ownership. Minimal labour and upkeep time help to maximise production and revenue.
“This new pump incorporates the teachings learned from operating in the oil sands over a few years, and features our newest hydraulic and put on applied sciences,” says Mollie Timmerman. “Because this is the heaviest TBC pump we now have ever designed, particular consideration was given to maintainability, in addition to materials selection and building of the pressure-containing elements.”
That GIW has established itself as a major force in pumping options for the oil sands business is much from stunning provided that it has been creating pumping applied sciences and put on resistant supplies within the world mining business for the explanation that Nineteen Forties.
These pumps have had a considerable impression on the way in which that excavated sand, rock and bitumen are transported to the upgrader plant. By adding water to the excavated materials it becomes extremely environment friendly to pump the slurry alongside a pipeline to the upgrader. The pipeline agitation assists in separating the bitumen from the sand as it’s transported, plus there might be the additional benefit of eradicating using vans.
GIW has estimated that the price of moving oil sand in this means can cut costs by US$2 a barrel, and it is far more environmentally pleasant. These pumps also play a major role in transporting the coarse tailings to the tailings ponds. GIW provides pumps used within the extraction process and other areas of manufacturing (HVF, MDX, LSA).
Understanding slurries Understanding the character of slurries and how they behave when being pumped has been elementary to the event of these merchandise. GIW has been obtaining slurry samples from prospects over many years for testing hydraulics and supplies both for pumps and pipelines. Research & Development amenities include multiple slurry test beds on the campus, along with a hydraulics laboratory that is devoted to pump efficiency testing.
These actions are central to the company’s pump improvement programmes. If corporations are experiencing issues the GIW R&D personnel can see where the issue lies and provide advice for remedial motion. Experience does indicate that in many circumstances the problem lies not with the pump nonetheless, but in the interaction between the pipeline and the pump.
Feedback from customers about appli- cations helps within the improvement of recent tools and pump designs. By bringing to- gether clients and teachers from all around the world to share their expertise and analysis with in-house consultants, the large funding in research, growth and manufacturing has superior the design of all the GIW pump merchandise,materials and wear-resistant elements.
The future “There is a transparent pattern toward larger pumps in mining and dredging and oil sands are not any exception,” comments Leo Perry, GIW lead product manager. “The first TBC pump in the oil sands business was the TBC-46 (46 in being the diameter of the impeller). Customers are designing their services for higher and better manufacturing and demanding the same of the tools that retains their production transferring. While these bigger pumps demand more energy, they also allow for greater manufacturing with much less downtime required for upkeep. Overall, the effectivity improves when in comparability with the identical output from a bigger quantity of smaller pumps. “
In conclusion, he says: “Larger pumps go hand-in-hand with larger amenities, larger pipelines, and increased manufacturing, all of which proceed to development higher year after yr. Other prospects and industries have additionally shown an curiosity in this measurement, and it might be no shock in any respect to see extra of these pumps constructed within the close to future for comparable applications.”
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